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Archived Press Releases 2007 6th June 2007

PM visit to Power cut victim an insult

(6th June 2007)

Christchurch Spokesperson for the Sensible Sentencing Trust believes the Prime Minister has insulted thousands of victims by giving special attention to the death of Mrs Muliaga while ignoring those who have died as a direct result of Government policy.

"I have listened and watched angry and frustrated this weekend about Helen Clark visiting the family of Mrs Folole Muliaga who died after her power was cut off last week by state owned Mighty River Power. To add to that anger and frustration, I now hear that she is sending a representative to the public funeral and they will be speaking on behalf of our government and Helen Clark."

What right does she have to acknowledge this death and ignore so many others? What an insult to all victims in New Zealand! I would like to ask Helen, “Where were you when Karl Kuchenbecker was murdered by Graeme Burton?”!!

"Where were you when the Panmure RSA murders were committed by William Bell?" Graeme Burton and William Bell were both on Parole at the time of their heinous crimes. The government is supposed to be responsible for our Parole Board and yet no responsibility was taken, no personal visit or apology.

Christchurch Spokesperson for the Sensible Sentencing Trust, Leah Matena, says "This is a kick in the guts for all those victims in New Zealand who deserved the right to be protected from the criminals that have violated so many. Our Parole system is supposed to be there to protect us from offenders and yet so many are released to go on and violate many other innocent lives. The Government is supposed to be responsible for this system. When it all goes wrong, they duck for cover pointing the finger and spend even more tax payer funds to "report" on an issue that has had too much time spent being "looked into" and white washed already".

After the fiasco that was the Graeme Burton release, yet another rubbishy, insulting report was issued. After this was released Helen Clark said about the parole board, "They don't want to do anything wrong and have probably erred on the side of the prisoner. But we have to think of the whole picture." How many more victims do you need before you err on the side of the general public?

Helen, are you now going to visit every victim in New Zealand? Are you going to apologise for your governments failed experiments and give assurance to the families that you will do everything in your power to ensure this does not happen again? I am sure you are not; but you cannot just pick and choose victims to console when it suits.

Regards,

Leah Matena
Christchurch Spokesperson,
Sensible Sentencing Trust.